Which Pipe Material If You Had To Choose One

[mso489]

We've played this game with pipe shapes, brands, and blends. How about pipe material if you had to choose one, between briar, cob, Meerschaum, morta, clay, another non-briar wood (which one?), or something else. I've recently been given my first Meerschaum pipe. I guess from habit and tradition, I'd go with briar, with cob a close second, but Meerschaum definitely esteemed. How about you? And why? I have all of the listed materials but morta. My non-briar wood include Mountain Laurel and Cocobolo.

 

[shanez]

Briar first with meet second. I think briar is just nicer looking but I also like the carvings done with meet.

 

[ashdigger]

Briar!!..... until Ryan Alden carves Meerschaum. :nana:

 

[cortezattic]

Meerschaum. The figurals and the coloring generate another level of interest, and the smoking is as good, or better, than other materials. ::

 

[tavol]

Hands down morta. Smokes drier and cooler than briar, more robust than meer, so whats not to love?

 

[ray47]

I would choose COB, just because that everything I smoke tastes better in any cob I choose. Whereas briar can be picky with certain blends and I have to search for the right briar pipe.

 

[rigmedic1]

My favorite is Briar, but I have a Ryan Alden Morta that is fantastic.

 

[jpmcwjr]

1. Briar

2. Meerschaum

3. Morta

4. Any other wood

5. Cob

 

[64alex]

My vote is for Morta. This is as the most important criteria for me is smoking properties and I like drier and pure neutral taste (not altered by the pipe material and not prone to ghosting). Under this criteria it is a race between meer, clay and morta but morta has to edge to be much more sturdier and can be smoked in as well as outside. Briars can be very nice cosmetically but IMO are second class with smoking capabilities particularly as they are not as dry as the others and if we speak cosmetically IMO a floral meer beats hands down any briar.

 

[nunnster]

I'm fairly ignorant, as I've only owned briar and cobs so I'm very partial to them, so I would go with briar first and cobs second, but I'll agree that different briars dont partially make certain tobaccos shine, but that's the joy of owning a few.
I've smoked a meer a couple times and I liked it enough and I enjoy all the wonderful carvings, but having never owned one I dont have any true experience. As for the rest...well I've never had any other wood nor clay. And I have no idea what morta is. I did have the unfortunate experience of trying a cheap plastic Chinese pipe. But that would be more along the lines of most terrible experiences

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

Aerogel.

Wrapped in a few layers of Graphene, and just with a gold foil cap to make the top easy to clean.
You could probably make a 6” Lumberman that weighs less than 10 grams that way, decently long and perfectly clenchable.

 

[64alex]

[I have no idea what morta is]
Morta, or bog oak, is 5-10k year old partially petrified oak that comes from trees that have fallen into peat bogs. It keeps the frame of the wood but is it mainly made of inorganic substance which is the reason why it behaves much more similar to clay and meers than to briar or other wood materials.

The main drawback is that it is expensive as it is relatively rare (and 99% of the extracted is not of suitable quality for pipe making) and more difficult to work as it is harder material, so you have to budget at least 200$ for getting a quality one from one of the few trusted carvers which has access to top notch morta and are able to work it.

 

[condorlover1]

Meerschaum every time

 

[tenton]

I'll have to go with what jpmcwjr said.

 

[olkofri]

Hands down morta. Smokes drier and cooler than briar, more robust than meer, so whats not to love?

The price.

 

[weezell]

Meerschaum every time

Yes Sir!!! Followed by MM Cob...

 

[jpmcwjr]

Hands down morta. Smokes drier and cooler than briar, more robust than meer, so whats not to love?
The price

Also the finish, have seen only a couple of mortas that looked good to my eye. YMMV.

 

[hugodrax]

Meerschaum without shadow of doubt.

 

[autumnfog]

Briar and ebonite.

 

[cigrmaster]

I smoke briar exclusively.